Mesh networking is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes. It allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around blocked paths by “hopping” from node to node until a connection can be established. Mesh networks are self-healing: the network can still operate even when a node breaks down or a connection goes bad. As a result, a very reliable network is formed. This concept is applicable to wireless networks, wired networks, and software interaction.
A mesh network is a networking technique which allows inexpensive peer network nodes to supply back haul services to other nodes in the same network. It effectively extends a network by sharing access to higher cost network infrastructure.
Mesh networks differ from other networks in that the component parts can all connect to each other.
Wireless mesh networking is mesh networking implemented over a Wireless LAN. This type of Internet infrastructure is decentralized, relatively inexpensive, and very reliable and resilient, as each node need only transmit as far as the next node. Nodes act as repeaters to transmit data from nearby nodes to peers that are too far away to reach, resulting in a network that can span large distances, especially over rough or difficult terrain. Mesh networks are also extremely reliable, as each node is connected to several other nodes. If one node drops out of the network, due to hardware failure or any other reason, its neighbors simply find another route. Extra capacity can be installed by simply adding more nodes with wired or wireless backhaul. Mesh networks may involve either fixed or mobile devices.
The principle is similar to the way packets travel around the wired Internet—data will hop from one device to another until it reaches a given destination. Dynamic routing capabilities included in each device allow this to happen. To implement such dynamic routing capabilities, each device needs to communicate its routing information to every device it connects with, “almost in real time”. Each device then determines what to do with the data it receives—either pass it on to the next device or keep it.
In general, mesh networking replaces the access points with “backhaul nodes” that are entirely wireless, except for the electrical cord. One side of the node interfaces with Wi-Fi users, typically via 802.11b/g. The Wi-Fi user associates with the mesh network node just as it does with an access point. The other side of the backhaul node has radios that interconnect the node to other backhaul nodes that comprise the mesh network.